The Pursuit Of Identity

There is a song I absolutely love and listen to a lot. It is a cover by Lawrence and Godswill Oyor titled Oshimiri Atata (which translates to, "River that never runs dry"). The song talks about how Jesus is the river that never runs dry. He is the One that provides never ending nourishment. He is the One that fills us up. 

There is a particular line in the song that stood out to me the very first time I heard it:

"The son of a lion is a lion."

At the time, I didn't understand why the line stood out to me but after a while, it made sense.

One of the biggest topics in our generation is about identity. We all desire to know who we are. The problem starts when we want to discover our identities outside of the One who created us. Before fully giving my life to Christ, I was in the pursuit of my identity but I was using the world's standards. I wanted to find my place in society, I wanted to fit in. My search was outside of Christ and that led to a lot of confusion, disappointment and frustration.

 I can't fully say that I know my identity but I can confidently say that I know where to look. 

"The son of a lion is a lion."

God is the lion of the Tribe of Judah. If He is a lion and I am His child, that makes me a lion too (or lioness to be accurate). Everything I was searching for, all the answers and the validation were already available to me. I was simply searching in the wrong place.  

In pursuit of my identity, I came across a Bible plan titled, "The False Self" that completely shifted my perspective. It explained how as humans, we always take up these false identities that were never ours. Anytime you modify your behaviour or personality to fit in, you are taking up a false identity. Every time you speak negatively towards yourself and believe it, that's another false identity you are taking up.

In the book of Genesis, after Adam and Eve ate of the fruit from the tree of good and evil, they felt shame and guilt. Immediately, their identities were changed. They put on these new identities that were never meant for them. As a result, they hid from the Lord. False identities keep us from the Lord,  they obscure our view of God. If we are far from the Lord, it gets even more difficult to discover our true identities. 

I have come to realize that My Father, My Creator knows me best. Pursuing my identity outside of Him is literally shooting myself in the foot. It makes me vulnerable to a lot of lies and a lot of false identities.

As I am writing this, I might not know for sure who I am but I know for a fact who I am not. Jesus is the physical manifestation of God so I would like to believe that He also came to teach us about humanity. We are called to be like Christ in thought, action, conduct and every other aspect. 

My flesh grapples with the idea of being like Christ. What do you mean I should love my enemies in a scenario where my anger and hatred is justified? Jesus died for the same people that mocked, beat and ultimately killed Him. He died for people that didn't believe in Him. He died for people that would rather live for themselves than for Him. The goal is to be more like Christ everyday.

In conclusion, if you're searching for your identity, look for Jesus instead. While looking for Him, you will discover yourself. When you find Him, you will find yourself.

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